29 December 2010

2. kitchen set, 1975. with a refrigerator door that opened and closed and a stove that had knobs that turned on and off. details that thrilled me.

3. toy coffeemaker, 1977. as pictured above, friends. it was filled with a dark brown liquid that made it look as if you were really making coffee. and of course, there was an on and off switch. very important, the on and off switch.

4. darci doll, 1979. coolest doll ever. because she was a brunette. because she was a little bit larger than all the other barbie dolls. because she came with a portfolio that contained little paper magazines with examples of her work as a high fashion model. because clearly, she was a modern woman. you know, just trying to make it on her own. and who also just happened to own several very awesome pairs of metallic shoes.

5. shiny red leotard and skinny gold metal belt, 1980. there could not have been a more perfect gift for a solid gold dancer-loving ten year-old me.

8. the harvey edwards leg warmers poster, 1986. what I wanted was the life of the person in this poster. bad. and my friends, they knew this. so they went in together and bought the poster for me. which, if I'm telling the whole story here, was purchased on the DL the day we snuck off to st. louis to go christmas shopping together. which wouldn't have been so bad had I actually been allowed to drive on my own with friends the two hours over to st. louis. this was the first major lie I ever told my parents and I'll spare you the details but I will say this: it did not end well. a week or so later, when my friends finally gave me the poster, I wanted to cry-- not because I was still in a crapload of trouble (and I was) but because it was the first time anyone outside my family had ever given me such a thoughtful gift.

9. vintage black velvet cocktail dress, 1988. which I originally found at a vintage shop downtown covington, kentucky and promptly hid deep in the rack so no one else would buy it before I got my mom down to the shop to buy it for me for christmas. really, I had no idea where I'd even wear such a dress but I wanted it. and I wanted it bad. I wore it around the house for a while. and then five months later, I wore it to my senior prom.

15. vintage turquoise hermes rocket typewriter, 2007. the first year ward and I participated in advent conspiracy, we established two rules: the gift must be secondhand and it could not cost more than twenty dollars. imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found this beautiful thing inside. people, I could not love a typewriter more. I could not.

22 December 2010

once a snowflake fell
on my brow and I loved
it so much and I kissed
it and it was happy and called its cousins
and brothers and a web
of snow engulfed me then
I reached to love them all
and I squeezed them and they became
a spring rain and I stood perfectly
still and was a flower

07 December 2010

celebrating with a little 2-for-1 sale in le shoppe! and a few new prints: how about a little world globe love? a little shiny brite love? happy happy, merry merry. sale runs today through sunday, december 12th, friends.

04 December 2010

hey peoples, I'll be posting over at habit all month long. habit= lovely little internet space where people pair photographs of daily life with 30 words or less. I began the year at habit and that's how I'll end it. I like it when things work out like that. I really really do.

p.s. the above photos are selections and outtakes from habit january 2010. how is it that we are practically pressed up against january 2011? how?

01 December 2010

my thanksgiving morning routine does not usually involve the borrowing of a purple bicycle from a hotel. nor does it involve the riding of said bicycle along a river that gives way to an ocean that goes on forever. never has my thanksgiving morning involved pedaling past ships and docks, past seafood markets and old souvenir shops. never has there been the standing beneath a bridge of any sort nor the unsettling cries of sea lions and the swooping of sea gulls. never has a thanksgiving morning been so different. and while I did miss my usual thanksgiving morning routine (the one that involves the wearing of a familiar old apron and the peeling of many many potatoes), this one was not so bad.